Alaska man mauled by brown bear

KTOO reports the man was mauled Wednesday night as he walked near downtown Hoonah. Police Chief Corey Rowley says the man, who hasn’t been identified, suffered bites and scratches to his back and legs.

The brown bear was with cubs, but Rowley says it doesn’t appear he came between them.

The man was taken by a commercial medevac service to Sitka on Thursday morning.

Police found the bear in a deep canyon but couldn’t reach it. By Thursday morning, the bear was gone.

Rowley says the top concern now is the safety of children walking from and to school.

Hoonah is a Tlingit community of 753 on Chichagof (CHICH’-a-goff) Island about 40 miles west of Juneau.